Courtroom paperwork display the founder misrepresented himself, exaggerated the corporate’s price and doctored acquire orders.
AUSTIN, Texas — An Austin guy and beverage corporate founder faces as much as twenty years in jail for allegedly scamming traders out of hundreds of thousands.
Wanu Water founder Todd O’Gara seemed in courtroom Thursday after being charged with cord fraud for allegedly mendacity about his product in a couple of circumstances.
Courtroom paperwork state Wanu Water began shedding cash once a year in 2019 in spite of being available on the market for a number of years. Wanu Water had a projected lack of just about $4 million for 2019, which led O’Gara to seek out cash from outdoor traders.
The paperwork accused O’Gara of misrepresenting himself, Wanu Water’s price whilst additionally doctoring acquire orders and exaggerating investor commitments. One of the vital allegations says O’Gara despatched a textual content message to a sufferer in 2021 that an funding company valued his corporate at $300 million.
There have been additionally claims of a couple of circumstances the place cash stressed out to Wanu Water wasn’t used for product success and as an alternative spent on different bills.
In the long run, traders in California, New Jersey and New York stated they had been defrauded out of a minimum of $3.4 million. If convicted, O’Gara may just face a most sentence of twenty years in jail and a nice.
KVUE reached out to Wanu Water for a remark at the allegations. A consultant shared the next commentary from O’Gara: “I unequivocally deny the costs and sit up for being cleared from all allegations.”
What’s Wanu Water?
The title Wanu is brief for water and vitamins.
The corporate used to be based by way of O’Gara and his spouse, Jacqueline O’Gara, who serves as the corporate’s director of name advertising and marketing. They began in 2013 inside of an rental in San Francisco, California earlier than transferring the corporate to Austin.
Wanu Water is offered at make a selection Costco’s in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas.
